


Book of Armaments 2:9-21 - Thou mayest blow Thine enemies to tiny bits

by Zombieprinz



Category: The Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson
Genre: Gen, things get blown up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-12 17:03:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7114603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zombieprinz/pseuds/Zombieprinz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hedge and Fiddler discover what Moranth Munitions can do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Book of Armaments 2:9-21 - Thou mayest blow Thine enemies to tiny bits

The oppressively hot evening found two of the bridgeburner's sappers separated from the troop, sitting beneath a large elm tree, staring at a rickety wooden crate. Not any crate, but one of those the Monrath had delivered earlier today, packed tight with sawdust and shavings, and amidst that the stoppered clay jars containing their new toys. 

Or so Whiskeyjack had suggested and sent them off to test what could be done with them.  
Hedge scratched his head, then swatted at the flies that kept swarming around the two of them. 

"You reckon they're as dangerous as he said, or he's exaggerating?" 

Fiddler didn't answer for some time. They were sappers. They dug tunnels, they built up siege weapons, they fought in close quarters. Fuck's sake, they didn't throw with those little pickle jars. 

"Only one way to find out." He was still wary, though it was obvious only to Hedge in the way he hesitated. They had both heard what the Moranth were capable of, though he didn't really understand yet why the bastards had agreed to trade these grenados to the Malazans. They were allies now, but even he wouldn't be comfortable giving out the plans to the most destructive ballistae he had helped create in his time. Not to anyone but a fellow Malazan. But if those things really were what the Moranth had promised, and not some watered down version of the original formula, there was going to be a firework. Either with sappers in it, or without. 

Hedge crept forward and snatched one of the smaller clay contraptions up, weighing it speculatively. It wasn't any heavier than a large apple, and seemed to be solid inside. So no liquid. So small, and yet so deadly.

 

"Well, take cover then. I'm not gonna be responsible if you decide to get your stupid head blown off." He only gave a moments warning and watched as Fid ducked behind a boulder, then threw the thing as far as possible.  
Light, a loud crack that left their ears ringing for a moment, and a smoking, charred circle on the newly weeded patch of forest ground. 

Fiddler, glancing over the boulder again, whistled through his teeth. 

"Well look at that. One nasty son of a bitch." He stared at the small metal shards, sharp as razors that were embedded into the ground now in an approximately round diameter. They had been thrown by the small combustion and would have shredded anything in their way.  
"I'd say that's deep enough to sever some arteries if you're unlucky." The red haired sapper pulled one of the shards out and examined it, testing the razor sharp edge against his thumbnail. 

Hedge nodded and stared at the singed ground, already calculating how he could use this new toy to the best effect. In his head, abstract plans of riders and clusters of enemies appeared, before being ripped apart again.

"I'd say that could take out a handful of enemies, if you throw right." Then his eyes lit up.  
"Quick, give me another!"  
Fid stared at him incredulously, then matched the other sapper's shit eating grin. 

"You reckon i can manage a bigger crater than that?"  
"Bet ya on it." A delighted, but slightly deranged laugh escaped Hedge as he pulled too other of the conic clay things free, immediately throwing it, far enough so it wouldn't do any damage to them. Probably. Fiddler's followed suit, and this time non of them ducked, even though they both flinched at the sudden shock and popping ears.  
"That's fucking amazing!" Hedge went to examine his throw, which had ripped a tree nearly in half. "If that tree was a person, they'd be dead. Totally dead." Fid picked through the wreckage left in the crater of his explosion, careful to not slice is fingers on the shards. It happened anyway, and he picked up a piece of clay without even noticing.  
"Look at that. So damn fragile. Could damn right rip ourselves apart with it."  
"It's a gamble." Hedge hadn't been this ecstatic in ages. The smile on his face was that of a man who had just found his true calling in life.

"Now I wonder what the other things can do." The reverent look on his face as he turned back to the crate of munitions was a thing to behold. And Fiddler began to feel the same. This was a weapon. This was probably the weapon they all had been waiting for. He wiped the sweat off his brow, then regarded Hedge. 

"What are you waiting for then?" 

That was his first mistake.  
The explosion that followed Hedge's throw - as far as the other ones - seemed to rip the air itself apart and filled it with fire.  
The two sappers went down as if shot with a ballista, diving for cover in the same part of a second they realized what was happening, and only their battle-honed reflexed saved them.  
The air was burning, shreds of earth and trees and clay carreened through the air above their heads. Fiddler was pretty sure his left eardrum had ruptured, if the numb feeling and the tingling noise were anything to go by. 

"Hedge?" He asked hesitantly as he pushed himself up to elbows. "What in Hood's name was that?" He searched for his friend, who had gone down just a foot away, and smelt burning hair and flesh. Shit. 

"Hedge!" 

Before Fiddler could really act on the onsetting panic, the other man sat up slowly, a crazed look on his face.  
"That was amazing." There was blood on his face. A good patch of hair was burned off over his left temple, the skin burned to a degree Fid was sure would scar, and only his armour and a scrap of cloth used as a scarf had prevented the rest of his left side to be grilled. 

"Fucking lunatic. Could've killed us both." 

Hedge just cackled in response, didn't even seem to notice the wound. 

Fid stared at him, then to the crater left in the earth, the speckled area around where the torn up earth had splattered against. 

Before, he had only been looking to keep him and his friend safe. Now, he looked and saw potential. 

"This is... going to change things." He scratched his ear, while Hedge lay down on the ground next to him, staring at the sky that was still streaked with blue tinged smoke and a sharp, metallic smell. 

"This might just win us the war."


End file.
